Koizumi and Japanese Politics Reform Strategies and Leadership Style Routledge/University of Tokyo Series

This book offers an empirical and theoretical study of the Koizumi administration, covering such issues as the characteristics of its political style, its domestic and foreign policies, and its larger historical significance. The key questions that guide its approach are: what enabled Koizumi to exercise unusually strong leadership, and what structural transformations of Japanese politics did he achieve?

Uchiyama looks at policy-making processes, newly created institutional arenas such as the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Koizumi?s populist strategy, foreign policy, and neo-liberal convictions to assess the historical significance of his administration and seek out the basis for its wide public support.

Finally, the book undertakes a normative evaluation of the merits and demerits of the Koizumi administration?s political style, and compares it with the Abe and Fukuda administrations that came after. This book will be of interest to scholars and students with an interest in comparative politics, administrative reform, and contemporary Japan.

1. Koizumi’s Management of Politics 2. Domestic Affairs: The Battle over Neoliberal Reform 3. Foreign Relations: Closer to America, Farther from East Asia 4. The Koizumi Administration in Historical and Theoretical Perspective 5. Legacies of the Koizumi Administration Postscript: The Koizumi and Abe Administrations

Yu Uchiyama is Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Japan.